Thursday, March 8, 2012

Chicken Milanese and Carrots

I was sooo excited to roast some carrots, or do something with them. Problem is, I have been crazy busy lately and not been able to do much cooking or had much desire to the one free night I have a week. So I bought this lovely bunch of carrots and was set to make something, I can't remember what anymore, but it took me a week or so to get to it. When I pulled the carrots out, they had gone soft. I was seriously, very sad. I really wanted to make whatever with those carrots and now I couldn't. My dinner was ruined. I don't remember what I ate instead, probably a bowl of pasta with a bit of salt. Tear.

On the next grocery run I picked up carrots again and made a point to use them as soon as possible. I also had the recipe for Chicken Milanese bookmarked in my Fresh Flavor Fast, so I decided to give it a try and add the carrots as a side. I use a quick recipe from Great Food Fast to make the carrots. It all turned out great. It was fast, yummy and great as a leftover. I don't have a rack that I can put in the oven so I used a pizza pan that has holes in it to bake the chicken on over a pan. It seemed to work fine. While the chicken was in the oven, the carrots cooked up quickly and everything was ready pretty close to the same time. I kept the onion with the dressing separate from the arugula so that it didn't wither or go brown waiting for the next meal. Chicken Milanese4 servings

1 1/4 cups plain dried breadcrumbs

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Coarse salt and ground pepper

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 6 ounces each)

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus lemon wedges, for serving

5 ounces baby arugula

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss breadcrumbs and oil until well combined; spread on sheet. Cook, tossing once, until golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl.

Place flour and eggs in separate bowls; season with salt and pepper. Place a rack on another rimmed baking sheet (or make it up like me!).

One at a time, place chicken breasts between two large pieces of plastic wrap. Using a meat mallet or bottom of a small heavy pan(I used the pan route), pound until 1/2 inch thick.

Coat chicken on both sides with flour (shaking off excess), then dip in eggs (allowing excess to drip off); dredge in breadcrumbs, pressing firmly to adhere.

Bake chicken on rack, without turning, until opaque throughout, 10 to 15 minutes.

In a bowl, whisk together remaining 2 tablespoons oil and lemon juice; season with salt and pepper. Add onion and toss. Top a bed of Arugula with the onion mixture and place the chicken on top.